Battle for the Planet of the Apes

The fourth and final sequel to Planet Of The Apes, Battle for the Planet of the Apes tells the story of the aftermath of a nuclear war that began at the close of the third sequel, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. As our tale opens, (with a cameo by actor/director John Huston as The Lawgiver) humans and apes are living in relative peace. But the veneer of harmony proves thin: Ape leader Caesar (Roddy McDowall, who appeared in all of the five Ape films except 1970's Beneath the Planet of the Apes plus the TV-series) approves of having the humans and apes live together, but another general, Aldo (Claude Akins), believes that the apes should rule alone and destroy those pesky humans.

Things get almost interesting when MacDonald (Austin Stoker) offers Caesar a chance to see his parents. Caesar, MacDonald and Virgil (Paul Williams), an ape elder, journey to a destroyed U.S. city to find the tapes that contain interrogations of Cornelius and Zira. While the trio searches for the tapes, they encounter a posse of mutant humans, who aren't fond of apes. The hairy triumvirate hurries back to their town to prepare for an eventual encounter and badly photographed battle sequences ensue!

The film is produced by Arthur P. Jacobs (of Doctor Dolittle fame) and Frank Capra Jr. (do you think his father ever understood?). Director J. Lee Thompson had worked with Jacobs on the producer's first picture, What a Way to Go and also did The Guns of Navarone before throwing his lot in with the Apes, beginning with Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
Last seen on TNT Saturday, September 2, 2000 @ 2 am ET/PT
* Technically, this is the morning of September 3, but don't tell them I told you. Rating: TV-PG-LV
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